Beginner

This week’s video of the week comes from the 2007 BBC TV documentary series, “Visions of the Future”. In this episode, The Biotech Revolution, host Michio Kaku goes through a wide variety of technologies changing or emerging due to our recent advances in biology. The documentary covers the technologies as well as ethical considerations behind each. Check it out after the break.

For this week’s video of the week we have a short “scinemation” which visually explains the basics of Synthetic Biology. This video was produced by RiAUS, a non-profit Australian science-outreach organisation. Check it out after the break!

Bioprinting is the very fancy new technique of “printing” organs (or perhaps even a whole organism!) rather than growing them the traditional way. This process is fast but difficult – however it has been making huge leaps and bounds recently. After the break you will find a very useful infographic explaining the basics of this new technology (created by printerinks in collaboration with organovo ).

In this week’s video of the week we have a short profile of the work and opinions of Karmella Haynes, a synthetic biologists. The video is a great introduction to the field and a small insight into the life of a synthetic biologist. Check it out here.

In our first instalment of DIY Biology Instructions, we’re going to be looking at extracting DNA. This series of instructions will cover a number of interesting and easy biology/biotechnology techniques that you can do yourself – often with quite minimal amounts of lab equipment. Rather than reinvent the wheel, these articles seek to find and link you to all the best relevant instructions on the web. DIY Biology is fun and great for teaching science to anyone who is interested. If you enjoy DIY biology, then find or found a public group near you!

The Synthetic Bestiary is a website about Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering and the Future. It is a hub of information about these fields and fields related to them. This site aims to inspire as much as it informs, so stick around – you might learn something.

This website was created by Myles O’Neill. The website’s logo includes the artwork ‘Draco Primordialis’ by Kaytara which is used with permission. The views and opinions expressed on this website are soley those of the original authors or interviewees.